Developed by Brussels Environment, the Reversible Design Checklist is a voluntary design tool which aims to help building owners and designers in Brussels to create reversible and circular buildings.
The Checklist is available in:
Reversible design is synonymous with prospective construction and renovation. This design approach aspires to design buildings in such a way that spatial typologies can be easily adapted and parts of the building can be disassembled and reused. In doing so, we strive to maintain the value and quality of the building, and the parts of which it is made, as high as possible, while limiting damage and the production of demolition waste.
The Checklist is designed as a qualitative design support tool and can be used from the start of the design process, for example when defining the project and programming, when producing the first sketch as well as as a monitoring tool throughout the different phases of the project.
In terms of content, the Checklist focuses exclusively on the reversibility of buildings, and addresses two aspects of reversibility :
- spatial reversibility which aims to extend the lifespan of the building by facilitating changes in future use and function
- technical reversibility which aims to dismantle and reuse elements, components and materials
The objectives of the Checklist are:
- Make it possible to formulate ambitions in terms of reversibility , to argue them and to follow their development throughout the different phases of the project.
- Present possible solutions, a number of strategies that can be applied to support a more reversible design.
- Objectivize criteria to compare design proposals.
The Checklist can serve as a basis for a qualitative assessment of design choices, for example in the context of a public contract or a competition.
The strategies presented in the Checklist are mainly derived from the indicators included in the Reversible Building Design Tools (RBD) developed by Dr. Elma Durmisević. These quantitative tools were developed as part of the European innovation project Buildings as Material Banks (www.bamb2020.eu) coordinated by Brussels Environment, the Environment and Energy Agency in the Brussels Capital Region (Belgium).
